Monorail trackway



J1me 1968 R. WAINWRIGHT ETAL 3,389,661

MONORAIL TRACKWAY Filed Nov. 15, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet. l

Inventor; RALPH WMNWAIGHT ALAN ARCHER A ttorneys June 1963 R. WAINWRIGHTETAL 3,389,661

MONORAIL TRACKWAY Filed Nov. 15, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet f I rwenlors MLPHwMNwRiHT ALAN ARCHER A tlorneys United States Patent 3,389,661 MONGRAILTRACKWAY Ralph Wainwright, Wakefield, and Alan Archer, Barnsley,

England, assignors to Qualter, Hall 8: Co. (Sales) Inmited', Barnsley,England, a company of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Filed Nov. 15,1966, Ser. No. 596,387 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Nov.17, 1965, 48,859/ 65 (Filed under Rule 47(a) and 35 U.S.C. 116) 10Claims. (Cl. 104-106) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE There is provided amonorail trackway with a plurality of flanged elongate rail sections theadjacent rail sections of which are coupled together at their adjacentends for pivotal movement about an axis perpendicular to their web.Pivoting is made possible by passing a pivot pin through interleavingbearing elements at those adjacent ends, one bearing element beingprovided by the web itself of one rail section and the other by a pairof mouthforming members secured to the web of the other rail section.Adjacent track sections each have cut-back portions of flange at theadjacent ends whereby longitudinally overlapping laterally side-by-sidetongues are formed on the end portions of the flange, the tongue of onerail section being fast with the web along its inner edge and the tongueof the other rail section being fast with one of the mouth-formingmembers along its inner edge so that there is an angle section formed ateach tongue.

This invention relates to monorail trackways consisting of rail sectionshaving a pair of flanges projecting generally co-planar one each side ofa web, the web usually being vertical in use and the flanges horizontal.

The sections of track are usually substantially rigid girder membersbent, it necessary, to conform generally to the changes of direction orinclination required in the trackway, but still there must be leftaccommodation at the joints between sections to allow for slightmisalignment or for shifts in the trackway during use. This latter isparticularly likely to occur when the monorail is instaled in a mine,hanging from the roof of the mine roadway.

This accommodation presents problems to the designer of the trackwayparticularly if the locomotive and trolleys to use the trackway are of atype where running wheels of the locomotive and trolleys engage onehorizontal surface of the horizontal flanges while a drive or brakingwheel of the locomotive engages the opposite horizontal surface of thesame flanges. Obviously in this case both the upper and lower horizontalsurfaces of those flanges must be kept free of interruption and give assmooth a transition as possible from one rail section to the next, andthe hinge construction must be as thin as possible in the lateraldirection, to permit maximum use of the upper surface.

The problem is one of design of the hinge construction. This mustprevent twisting between adjacent rail sections, but at the same time:

(i) keep to a maximum the smoothness of transition between the runningflanges of adjacent rail sections even when there has been pivotalmovement between them.

(ii) keep the outer face of the running flanges (the face notinterrupted by the web) completely free of obstruction.

(iii) be of a construction allowing ease of assembly but occupyingminimum lateral width: this latter because 'ice rollers are to be ableto engage each of the faces of the running flange-obviously if the hingeconstruction extends laterally too far from the web less of the width ofthat inner face of the flange is unobstructed and the rollers whichengage that face must run only on a narrow marginal portion of thatflange. This would expose that portion to high loads and excessive wear.

A type of hinge construction where the outer surface of a track isinterrupted by the hinge is shown in the Specification of United KingdomPatent No. 1,007,904, where a knuckle on the outer face of the flange ofone rail section is engaged by a lug on the next. Although this wouldmeet requirement (i) about, obviously only the inner faces of therunning flanges are available for supporting running rollers, andlocomotives of the type mentioned will not run on the track.

The axis of pivoting has to be kept as close as possible to the runningflange [(i), above], but the outer face must be clear [(ii), above].Therefore the axis of pivoting must be in the height of the Web, and theproblem of lateral thickness of the hinge has to be overcome [(iii),above].

A type of standard hinge construction, allowing pivoting about verticaland horizontal axes, is shown in the specification of United KingdomPatent No. 919,281. A pair of plates extends from the web of eachadjacent section, one pair diverging to fit outside the other at theaxis of pivoting. A pin fits through all the plates and is retained byits head and by a locknut assembly. The total width of the hingeassembly at its pin is greater than that of the flange.

We find that by using the Web of one rail as one of the bearing elementsfor the pivot pin, and by securing the pin fast to one of the bearingelements, a construction is given which enables the pin to terminateflush with the laterally outer of its bearing elements and which is ofminimum lateral thickness at the pivot axis.

In order to give greater smoothness of transition between adjacent railsections it is preferred to provide longitudinally overlapping,laterally side-by-side tongues.

In one of the embodiments shown in the specification of United KingdomPatent 919,281,. the pin which pivotally joins the two rail sections(each of I-scetion girder) is positioned directly below an end of afirst rail section which has, forward of that end, a projecting tongue.The end of the second rail section which is joined to this end issimilarly shaped, so that the two tongues can overlap. But the pivot pinis not positioned longitudinally midway between the end of the tongues,it is positioned directly below the root end of one tongue. Therefore,given a certain angle of pivoting between the two rail sections about ahorizontal axis, the vertical movement of one of the tongue is muchgreater than the vertical movement of the other (relative to the railtrack flanges between which the tongues respectively are intended tobridge), and an uneveness in running on the track surface results. Inorder to try to overcome this the tongues are downwardly curved and arethin towards their free ends.

If this type of track were used with a locomotive which squeezes theupper and lower surfaces of the flanges which have the tongues, apartfrom disadvantages of the uneveness which would result from thepositioning of the pivot pin and the excessive width of the hingeconstruction there would be loss of pressure because of the thinness ofthe flange where the tongues are thinned. The tongues are in any casestricturally weak (being long compared to the size of the pivot pin andbeing unsupported by the webs), and would not withstand this pressureunless made of unduly heavy gauge flange material.

In contrast, a construction embodying the present invention, is one inwhich the pivot pin is longitudinally between the ends of the tongues.

The tongues are preferably supported at their inner edge by being fastwith the web of the rail section or to a part fast with the web wherebyeach tongue has an angle section, and this is carried out in the presentinvention by providing a projecting mouth beyond the end of one web intowhich the end of the web of the other rail section may be received, oneof the members forming one side of the mouth being fastened to thetongue of that rail section.

In the case that the opposed rollers are to run on both sides of onepair of flanges, the pivot pin is placed as close as possible to theline of that flange whereby the longitudinal relative displacement ofthe tongues on pivoting about the horizontal axis is minimized.

Although the problems are particularly acute when using locomotive ofthe type we have mentioned, the monorail trackway is not restricted inits use to a system intended for running with those locomotives.

According to a first aspect of the invention we provide a monorailtrackway consisting of a plurality of flanged elongate rail sections,adjacent rail section coupled together at their adjacent ends forpivotal movements about an axis perpendicular to their web by means of apivot pin passing through interleaving bearing elements provided atthose adjacent ends, one bearing element being provided by the webitself of one of the rail section and the other by a pair ofmouth-forming members fast with the web of the other rail section, thepivot pin being fast with a said bearing element.

Preferably the adjacent track sections each have cutback portion offlange at the said adjacent ends whereby the longitudinally overlappinglaterally side-by-side tongues are provided by the end portions of theflange. The interengagement between the rail sections may be such thatplay for relative pivotal movement between the sections about twoperpendicular axes is provide for.

Usually, the trackway will be I-section and in this case the point ofpivotal interaction of the web portions of adjacent track sections willbe between the two pairs of flanges and be closer to that pair offlanges adapted to be engaged by opposed wheels than the other pair offlanges (this pair of flanges may be vertically above or below the saidother pair of flanges).

The invention also includes, as its second aspect a rail section, for amonorail trackway, having a pair of flanges projecting perpendicularlyfrom a web, one flange on each side of the web, one end of the webadapted to form a bearing for a pivot pin, the other end of the webhaving a pair of mouth-forming members attached to it and projectingbeyond it, the mouth-forming members adapted to receive a pivot pin toform a hinge coupling with a like rail section by engagement of thatpivot pin with the said bearing in the web of that like rail section todispose the flanges of the rail sections coplanar.

A particular embodiment of the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of a junction between sections of a monorailtrackway,

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view on the line II-II FIG- URE 1, and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view on the line III-III FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 1 shows in side view adjacent ends of two adjacent rail sectionsA and B of I-section girder forming a monorail trackway. Each I-sectionelongated rail section A, B has a web 2, 3 which is vertical when thetrackway is in use and has at the bottom end of the web 2, 3 a pair ofoppositely directed horizontally extending coplanar flanges 4, 5 and 6,7 respectively. The flanges 4 to 7 are adapted to be engaged on theirupper surfaces by running wheels 9 (FIGURE 3) of a monorail locomotiveor car and on the lower surface of the flanges (which surface extendscontinuously and completely planar between respectively, pairs offlanges 4 and 6 and 5 and 7) by a drive or braking roller 10 of thelocomotive. Upper horizontal flanges generally designated 11 of theI-section rail sections correspond generally to flanges 4 to 7 but inthe present instance are not used as a running or supporting surface bya locomotive or cars but are used for the suspension of the monorailtrackway from an overhead support such as a roof of a mine roadway bymeans of clamping brackets 12 (FIGURE 3).

To form a coupling between the adjacent rail sections A, B whichjunction can accommodate up to 4 of pivotal movement between the tracksections in either a horizontal or a vertical direction, the web 2 ofthe track section A together with its flange 7 is cut back. The web iscut on a line 12 (FIGURE 1) extending at an angle to the exact verticaland the flange 7 is cut laterally on the line 13, which is perpendicularto the plane containing the web 3. The upper flange 11 corresponding toflange 7 is similarly cut, to intersect the line 12. The flange 5 0f thetrack section A is however continued beyond the line 13 to terminate at14 (FIGURE 2), the inner edge of the projecting terminal portion offlange 5 so formed being tapered towards its end remote from the web 2generally in the way shown at 15 (FIGURE 2).

The end of adjacent rail section B which is to be coupled to the thusprepared end of rail section A terminates generally at a plane 16 whichcontains the end of flange 6 as well as its corresponding upper flange11 and the end of web 3. The plane 16 is, as shown in FIGURE 1 preciselyvertical and perpendicular to the plane containig the web 3.

The flange 4 however is cut back from the plane 16 at a line 17 (FIGURE2), and the upper flange 11 Corresponds to the flange 4 is treatedsimilarly. Thus in the running flanges a pair of longitudinallyoverlapping laterally slde-by-side tongues is formed by the projectingterminal portions.

When the ends of adjacent track sections A and B are placed injuxtaposition in the way shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 with their webs 2, 3coplanar and their flanges 4 to '7 also coplanar, there is formed atrackway in which the gaps between lines 13 and 16 and 14 and 17respectively do not coincide longitudinally, and laterally opposedrunning wheels 9 borne on the trackway are always supported at one sideor the other by at least one flange. The end portions of the flanges 4to 7 are coplanar with the rest of the flanges.

Provision has to be made for the supporting of the adjacent tracksections in this position and for allowing them to accommodate tochanges in relative vertical or horizontal attitude.

This is provided by a hinge assembly consisting of mouth-forming members(a first plate 20 and a second plate 26) between which is inserted oneend of the web 3. The plate 20 is welded to one face of the web 2 of thetrack section A and extends substantially the whole depth of that weband is joined by weld seams 21, 22, 23 to the web and to the inner edgeof the projecting portions of the flanges 5, 11 to reinforce them, andform an angle section with them. It will be remembered, the web 2 doesnot extend to them. Part of the plate 20 secured by the Weld line 21 tothe web 2 overlies the end portion of the web 2 and is exactly parallelto it, but the planar forward part of the plate 20 diverges slightlyfrom the line of the web 2 following the line of the inner edge 15 ofthe projecting terminal portion of the flange 5, the plate 20terminating at the same line, 14, as that tongue.

An aperture 24 in the plate 20 is provided to receive a pivot pin 25which is received by and welded fast with a second plate 26 which alsohas welded to it four set screws 27 arranged in an end part 28 of theplate 26 which lies in abutment with and exactly parallel with an endportion of the web 2 of the track section A. Beyond the line 12, themouth-forming planar portion of the plate 26 diverges somewhat from theline of the web 2 so that together plates and 26 form at theirprojecting portions a mouth with planar diverging walls for thereception of the end portion of the web 3 of the track section B.

The plate 20 terminates short of the set screws 27. This means that, onassembly, the set screws have to penetrate and hold together only twoeflective elements, the web 2 and the plate 26. Thus the total lateralwidth occupied by these securing means can be less than the lateralwidth of the whole hinge assembly '(see FIGURE 3).

The end portion of web 3 is provided with an aperture 30 for receivingthe pivot pin, which aperture is of a diameter that much greater thanthe diameter of the pivot pin that play is allowed for between the twotrack sections, pivoting about an axis parallel to the web thus beingpossible within the angle defined by the mouth formed by the plates 20,26.

To assemble the two track sections together, the plate 26 is removedfrom the track section A, the webs 2, 3 aligned generally, the aperturesand 24 brought into register and then the plate 26 complete with its pin25 secured in position by means of nuts 31 on set screws 27 so that thepin 25 passes through the apertures 30 and 24.

The nuts 31 are secured onto a self-locking plate 32.

It is to be noted that by securing the pin fast to one of the elementswhich it bears on, it is possible to end the pin flush with the outersurface of the plates 20, 26. This is best seen in FIGURE 2. There is noneed for the pin to have a head, lock-nut or keep-plate assembly, as

in conventional practice.

The outer edges of flanges 4 to 7 (as well as flanges 11) are chamferedas at 33, adjacent their terminations.

Although we havee shown the pivot pin welded to the plate 26 it is clearthat it may be fast with any one of the elements on which it bears,i.e., it alternatively may be fast with the web 3 or with thepermanently-attached plate 20. In either of these cases the sequence forassembly is the same.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings the lower horizontally disposedpair of flanges are run by running wheels and so the pivot pin 25 isplaced substantially nearer to those pairs of flanges than to the flange11, and larger gaps (34) are left at the upper edge of the trackwaybetween adjacent ends of flanges 11 than are left (35) at the lower sideof the trackway. The positioning of the pivot pin nearer the runningflanges helps smoothness in transition for a train passing along thetrackway if there should be any relative pivotal displacement of thetrack section.

The provision of overlapping tongues greatly helps in giving suchsmoothness. However, it is possible to embody the present invention inrail trackways in which the joint between the running flanges ofadjacent sections is contained in one plane only.

In the particular embodiment illustrated the depth of the track membersfrom mutually outer planar face to planar face is 8 inches and the totalwidth of the flanges is 16 inches. The gaps 35 are A" in thelongitudinal direction of the trackway and the gaps 34 $3 in thelongitudinal direction of the trackway. The pivot pin 25 is 1 /2" indiameter and the distance (in plan view) between its centre axis and thelines 16 and 14 is 1 /8" and 1%." respectively.

The vertical distance between the lowermost surface of the trackway andthe centre axis of the pivot pin is 2%", the distance in thelongitudinal direction of the trackway between the nearest of the setscrews 27 and the central axis of the pivot pin being 3%.

It must be clearly understood however that these dimensions may be andshould be varied to suit individual requirements.

The embodiment described may be inverted (that is, the flanges 4 to 7may be vertically above the flanges 11) if a locomotive or trolley isused which requires running surfaces at theupper edge of the track. Eachflange of a rail section may have more than .one tongue, and the tongueor tongues may be of less lateral width than the flange from which theyoriginate. Obviously the formation of a tongue or tongues on one end ofa section should be compatible with junction to a complementaryformation on the other end of a like rail section.

The termination of the flanges need not lie in a plane perpendicular tothe web. For example, referring to FIGURE 2 of the drawings, the lines13, 14, 16, 17 could all lie at some other suitable angle to the line ofthe web 2, 3, e.g., and respectively. This gives even greater smoothnessof running but can weaken the outer most edge of the end of theprojecting tongues if an excessive angle to the perpendicular is used.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A monorailtrackway consisting of a plurality of flanged elongate rail sections,adjacent rail sections coupled together at their adjacent ends forpivotal movements about an axis perpendicular to their web by means of apivot pin passing through interleaving bearing elements provided atthose adjacent ends, one bearing element being provided by the webitself of one of the rail section and the other by a pair ofmouth-forming members secured to the web of the other rail section, thepivot pin being fast with a said bearing element.

2. A monorail trackway according to claim 1 wherein the adjacent tracksections each have cut-back portion of flange at the said adjacent endswhereby longitudinally overlapping laterally side-by-side tongues areprovided by the end portions of the flange.

3. A monorail trackway according to claim 2 wherein the tongue of theone rail section is fast with the web along its inner edge and thetongue of the other rail section is fast with one of the mouth formingmembers along its inner edge, whereby an angle section structure isformed at each tongue.

4. A monorail trackway according to claim 3 wherein the pivot pin islongitudinally between the ends of the tongues.

5. A monorail trackway according to claim 1 wherein the rail sectionsare of I-sections girder, the pivot pin being nearer one pair of flangesthan to the other.

6. A monorail trackway according to claim 1 wherein the mounth-formingmembers diverge planarly away from the web with which they are fast,there being play between the pivot pin and the bearing element. fromwhich it is free, whereby pivotal movement about an axis parallel to theweb is allowed for.

7. A monorail trackway according to claim 1 wherein the pivot pin iswelded to one of the mouth-forming members which is detachably securedto the web of its rail section.

8. A rail section, for a monorail trackway, having a pair of flangesprojecting perpendicularly from a web, one flange on each side of theweb, one end of the web adapted to form a bearing for a pivot pin, theother end of the web having a pair of mouth-forming members attached toit and projecting beyond it, the mouth-forming members adapted toreceive a pivot pin to form a hinge coupling with a like rail section byengagement of that pivot pin with the said bearing in the web of thatlike rail section to dispose the flanges of the rail sections coplanar.

9. A rail section according to claim 8 wherein tongues are formed byterminal flange portions at each end of the rail, the tongues beingdisposed so that on coupling together like rail sections end-to-end thetongues are disposed longitudinally overlapping and laterallyside-byside.

10. A rail section according to claim 8 wherein one of the mouth formingmembers is detachably secured to 7 s the web by securing means passingthrough the web and References Cited ing means and being permanentlyfast with theweb and 903,594 11/1908 Madclren 4 104-407 with a terminalflange portion at that end of the rail 5 9141443 3/1909 Myels 104 107section, the web extending to the end of a terminal flange portion atthe other end of the rail section, whereby the ARTHUR LA POINT PrlmmyExamme" said flange portions are reinforced up to their ends. D. F.WORTH, Assistcm! Examiner.

